NBC’s Silverman says Obama may have hurt momentum for Chuck

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THR’s James Hibberd has a brief interview with Ben Silverman up. Mostly it was about Obama on Leno last night, but Hibbered did also ask about whether all the Obama addresses on prime-time are hurting and Kings.

Q: There’s been talk of Obama’s national address interruptions hurting networks. But then you have times like this where his appearance actually helps a program. What’s been the net effect of Obama this season on broadcasters?

Silverman: Barack Obama knows how to market himself better than anybody in the history of marketing. And he’s using the media the way we use and advertisers use the media, and its effect is impressive. It’s not helping us get any normal rhythm this year. It hurt the fall. I think it hurt “Chuck” — we had the huge 3-D episode, its highest rating in the year, then it was pre-empted the next Monday with no notice. But he’s our president, and whatever he needs we are going to do.

Q: Any thoughts on “Kings”? Could something have been done differently, and do you still think it can pull it out?

Silverman: I’m hoping because intent [to view] went up and awareness went up after it aired, clearly people responded to it, and it grew over its two hours. That gives me some hope. It’s just hard to launch things that are not obvious. We may get nailed for it, but I’m proud of the show, and we need to keep taking chances like that. – read the rest at THR.com.